


On the Prowl

by LilAnnieSunshine



Series: Middle School Dance fic [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Chunin Exams, F/M, Festivals, POV Gaara (Naruto), POV Third Person Limited, Possibly Unrequited Love, Stalking, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29414913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilAnnieSunshine/pseuds/LilAnnieSunshine
Summary: After learning about Sasuke's feelings for Sakura, Gaara follows her at a festival in attempts to learn more about the girl who captured his enemy's heart.Can be read as part of "Middle School Dance fic" after chapter 4.
Relationships: Gaara/Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Series: Middle School Dance fic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160864
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	On the Prowl

The Leaf Village was hosting a festival. It seemed to Gaara that the village was always hosting some inane celebration. It was so different from the Sand Village. They only celebrated when there was something worth celebrating, like a military victory or the death of some great enemy.

The Sand Village was drab, full of earth tones, browns, blacks, whites, sometimes dark reds or blues. The only time Gaara had ever seen green was when the Kazekage’s family took a tour of the greenhouse that hosted the medicinal plants.

The Leaf Village was so colorful. She was the most colorful thing of all.

Again, Gaara found himself sneaking away from his siblings and following her. Sakura. Sasuke’s teammate. The girl Sasuke nearly killed a person to protect.

Gaara had taken many lives, but he got the feeling it was different for Sasuke. It was different for all these Leaf Village scum, they didn’t know hard times, not really.

Sakura stood there, in a blue yakuta covered in pink flowers, her green eyes illuminated by the red lanterns hanging from festival stands. She was walking arm in arm with that loud, blonde girl. Gaara couldn’t remember her name. The two were looking at some hairpins. He watched as Sakura took great care to place a butterfly pin in the blonde girl’s hair bun.

Gaara wondered what it would feel like if she touched him. All of the times he watched her, her touch seemed soft, the way she cared for Sasuke or even their other, loud teammate. What would it be like to be touched that gently?

The blonde girl returned the favor, parting Sakura’s hair to the side and pining her hair back with a flower pin. What would it be like to touch her? Would she allow it, the way she allowed the blonde girl to touch her? It was Gaara’s understanding that the girls hadn’t always been on friendly terms, even he could pick up on that.

Gaara watched as the girls looked into a mirror at the stand and smiled at themselves. They paid the shop owner and went on their way.

“Ino!” The portly boy who lost to Dosu in the preliminaries called.

“Hey Choji!” Ino called, dragging Sakura over to see him and the boy who beat Kin.

“What’s up?” Ino asked.

“The eating contest is in just a few minutes.” Choji beamed. “I’m going to get free barbecue for a whole year.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned.

Gaara didn’t understand why the boy reacted like that. Food was necessary for survival and that was all. He got no pleasure from eating. The only thing that put Gaara at peace was bloodshed.

“That’s great!” Ino hugged him.

“Do you wanna watch?” Choji asked.

Ino made a face. She looked uneasy to Gaara.

“Sure.” Ino said after a beat, awkward smile plastered on her face.

“What’s with her?” Sakura whispered in the other boy’s ear. If Gaara’s senses weren’t so fine tuned, he probably wouldn’t have heard it.

“Have you ever watched Choji eat?” the boy asked. “It’s pretty nasty, even when he’s not trying to win a competition. Do you have any idea how gross this could be?”  
Sakura looked disgusted. Maybe she and Gaara had more in common than he thought. He wasn’t a fan of gluttons either. He remembered Kankuro taking food from their cousins when they were little. He hated the display, not that he cared that his cousins weren’t eating, they should’ve been stronger, but gluttony was a weakness, a weakness that could get you killed.

The eating competition started, with Choji and two other men seated at the stand, shoveling barbecue into their mouths, not even bothering to chew. Sakura only lasted about thirty seconds before she put her hand over her mouth and told Ino she had to go.

Sakura ran down the path of brightly lit stands with Gaara following silently behind.

She came across Neij and the girl Temari absolutely destroyed in the preliminary rounds, a small girl who had an uncanny resemblance to Neji was with them.

“Hey, Sakura!” The older girl called.

“Tenten?”Sakura looked up at the girl.

“What’s up?” Tenten asked, practically dragging Neji over to see Sakura while the smaller girl followed a few paces behind.

“I was just hanging out with Ino, but she stopped to watch Choji eat in a contest, and I just don’t have the stomach for that.”

Tenten grimaced. “I wouldn’t either. It’s like when Lee trains so hard he hurts himself. It just doesn’t look comfortable.”

“I guess they’re not allowing him out of the hospital for the festival?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Neji and the small girl hadn’t said a word the whole time Tenten was talking. Neji looked at Sakura like she was something he found on his shoe, while the small girl just looked at Neji curiously.

“We were just going to the haunted walkthrough tent. Did you want to come?” Tenten asked Sakura.

Sakura looked at Neji, it was obvious to her that he didn’t want her to come along.

“That’s okay.” Sakura gave an awkward smile. “I meant to get a snack soon anyway. NOT barbecue.”

The small girl pulled on Neji’s shirt. “I don’t want to go in the haunted tent either, I want to stay here and get a snack.”  
Neji gave the girl a look of indifference, but his sharp tongue stayed inside his mouth.

Tenten gave Sakura a pleading look while Neji kept his eyes locked on the girl.

“How does ice cream sound, Hanabi? We can eat it while Neji and Tenten walk through the tent.”

Hanabi just nodded.

Neji and Tenten went into a tent a few yards away while Sakura and Hanabi went to a nearby ice cream stand.

Gaara watched Sakura. He knew what it was like to be excluded. Everyone excluded him. He wondered if it hurt that Neji didn’t want her to come with him, although Tenten seemed to enjoy her company. The little girl, Hanabi, was clearly comfortable with Sakura, taking her hand and following her to get ice cream. Gaara used to wish other people were that comfortable with him. Now he relished their fear.

“Cherry blossom flavored for me,” Sakura said, paying the shop owner.

“I’ll have purple sweet potato.” Said Hanabi, passing a few coins his way.

Sakura and Hanabi stopped on a bench and ate their ice cream.

“Is Neji babysitting you tonight?” Sakura asked.

“Dad insisted he take me. I don’t know why. Konohamaru and his friends get to go by themselves as long as their home by nine.” Hanabi puffed out her cheeks.

“Where’s Hinata?”

“With Shino and Kiba. She said I could come with her but Dad says I’ll learn more from Neji.”

“What about Tenten?” Sakura asked.

Hanabi gave Sakura a knowing look, wise beyond her years. “I like Tenten. She’s nice. Sometimes Neji is even nice when he’s around her.”

Sakura’s eyes widened in realization, although Gaara wasn’t sure what she was realizing. All the girl said was that she liked Tenten and Neji was nice around her.

“Thanks for watching me while they go through that tent. My Dad would be angry if he knew Neji left me alone.”

A moment later, Tenten came out of the tent laughing, pulling Neji, who was rolling his eyes, but had a small smile, by the arm. Gaara was perplexed by their interaction. Wasn’t the tent supposed to be scary? Why did they look like they were having so much fun? Did they want to be scared? Of course, no one in this village knew real fear. But they would soon enough.

Sakura returned Hanabi to Neji and Tenten before giving a small wave and wandering away.

Sakura walked the endless stalls passing lantern after lantern until there were no more lanterns. She was at the end of the line, in an ally, in the dark. All of the sudden, she got a feeling she was being watched.

“I know you’re following me.” Sakura said.

Gaara held still. He knew she couldn’t see him. She wasn’t that talented.

“Show yourself.” Sakura said angrily. She seemed a lot stronger now than when he saw her in the preliminary rounds. He figured she thought she was safe since she was in her own village and not in a combat scenario. She’d soon learn that even the great Leaf Village wasn’t so safe. 

He contemplated showing himself to her. Would she be afraid? Confused? Would she engage him in conversation?

“Sakura,” a soft voice called from the edge of the lantern filled streets.

“Hinata!” Sakura turned to face her.

“What are you doing all alone here?”

“I’m not alone,” Sakura said, going over to a barrel that… wait, that wasn’t there before.

Gaara blinked, he had been so focused on following Sakura that he hadn’t even noticed someone else was following her, poorly.

Sakura reached the barrel and pulled a small boy out from it. Gaara recognized him as the boy Kankuro was bullying when they first arrived in the village.

“Konohamaru, why are you following me?” Sakura asked with a great sigh, holding him off the ground by his shirt.

“Hey! Put me down!” Konohamaru whined.  
“Not until you give me an answer.” She growled at him.

“I was trying to find the boss.”  
“And you couldn’t have just come up to me and asked me like a normal person?”

The kid struggled. “Well, I thought maybe you were going to have a secret meeting with the boss. Like a date.”  
“Sakura isn’t dating Naruto.” Hinata said in a small voice.

“Of course I’m not!” Sakura said, blushing, dropping Konohamaru on the ground.

“That’s not how the boss tells it.” Konohamaru got to his feet and dusted himself off.  
Sakura rolled her eyes. “If Naruto and I are together, don’t you think I’d know where he is right now? I don’t. I barely get to see him since he’s started training for the final rounds. I haven’t seen Sasuke much either.”

“Fine,” Konohamaru stuck his tongue out at her, “Well, I guess you’re no help. See you later!” He ran off.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Konohamaru as he ran away. “Sorry you had to see that,” She turned to Hinata. Gaara could tell she was embarrassed by her lapse in maturity.

“Isn’t that the Third Hokage’s grandson? Won’t you get in trouble for throwing him around like that?”  
“Nah, he likes being treated like a normal kid.” Sakura shrugged. “Where are Kiba and Shino?”

“Kiba went into the haunted walkthrough tent. Shino and I didn’t want to do that so we all agreed to split up and meet back at the noodle tent in fifteen minutes. Shino’s looking at goggles. I saw you all alone and decided to ask if you wanted to hang out with us.”  
“Thanks Hinata.” Sakura smiled, taking her arm the way she did Ino’s earlier.

“I love your hairpin. You look really pretty!”

“I’ll show you where I got it.”  
Gaara watched them walk away.

_“You look really pretty.”_

If the kid could be trusted, Naruto was in love with Sakura too. Naruto, Lee, Sasuke. They all saw something in her.

She was beautiful. He never really thought much about beauty, but many saw it as an achievement to have a beautiful mate. In biology, Gaara learned that the true measure of success for any organism was passing their genes onto the next generation. Gaara wouldn’t be killed in battle, that was for sure, the only way he’d die would be of old age. He’d have time to pass on his genes. He’d claim a beautiful mate for his own and he would live on through his progeny.

This was the first time he ever thought about reproduction this way, it made sense to Gaara, this was also the first time he ever found a suitable mate.


End file.
